The Hunger Games star admits she was considering having a stud attached to her tongue as she prepared to play tough divorcee Tiffany in Silver Linings Playbook, but her worried mum didn't want her messing around with her mouth.

Lawrence tells the Globe tabloid, "My mom wrote me an email of all these things that I could die from.

"She was like, 'The infection could go to your heart, your tongue could split in half!' I was like, 'What if she's right?'"

And then the actress learned the recovery time was longer than expected: "I realised I wouldn't be able to talk properly for, like, eight months."

Lawrence didn't need the tongue piercing to impress critics - the role has already won her a slew of awards, including a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild honour, while she is also nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars next month (Feb13).